MAN ASSAULTS MOTHER, GRABS GIRL ON FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: Officials focus on security upgrades at school where man exposed hims

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said a man allegedly exposed himself to a woman and her 6-year-old daughter while they were walking on Hilo Drive, near Highland Renaissance Academy on the first day of school.

In a news conference on Aug 27, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Dr. Clayton Wilcox said there is a small homeless camp near the school and that's where the suspect came from.

Ronnie Carr

Channel 9 visited the wooded area near the school last week where it appeared people were living.

There were tables, chairs, a mattress, sheets, beer bottles and other signs of inhabitants.

Shanique Sweet has two children that attend the school and told Channel 9, "It's close to home. We live here. They go to school there. Some days my girls walk home by their selves, it was just scary, crazy."

Channel 9's John Paul investigated and alerted CMS after finding major problems with a security fence that divides the school from the homeless camps.

The fence to the school was cut, which would allow people to gain access to the properties on both sides.

Channel 9 went back to Highland Renaissance on Tuesday and confirmed that part of the fence had been fixed, but discovered another open area with three broken latches.

The next day, school officials said they would add more fences and security cameras.

Wilcox said he is looking into better ways to secure the school.

Many of the parents and grandparents Channel 9 spoke to are still on edge after the attack, but said they are happy changes are being made to help keep kids safe.

Channel 9 has reached out to district officials about the additional fence issues and will continue to visit the school until safety concerns are resolved.

Ronnie Carr, 46, initially approached the two while they walked, grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her, police said. The mother immediately grabbed her daughter and Carr then began to assault the woman, according to officers.

Carr walked away from the two before returning and exposing himself, police said.

Carr was arrested and charged with indecent exposure, sexual battery, assault on a child under 12 and attempted kidnapping.

The woman and child were not hurt, police said.

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CMS welcomes students back with 'smooth' first day

CMS provided several updates throughout the day on the first day of school.

Officials said the sign-in system, called LobbyGuard, led to lines, delays and a system freeze from heavy use at some schools.

They also said the first day of school saw some late buses in the morning and evening.

The district said 62 percent of the buses were on time Monday morning and 81 percent were on time Monday evening.

Nineteen buses were out past 7 p.m. and one was out past 1 p.m.

The CMS transportation director told Channel 9 Monday morning they were 66 bus drivers short for the start of the year.

That is an increase of around 50 drivers last week.

Tiffany Cheeseboro's third grader was late to class because drop-off and sign-in lines were long.

"It took us about 30 minutes to get to the school to drop them off and of course, it’s beyond the bell," Cheeseboro said.

The transportation director said there is a plan to hire nine drivers and training is scheduled for additional drivers over the next few weeks.

District officials said they hope to have most of the positions filled by the end of September.

"By middle-end of September, we'll have a continual influx of new drivers," said Adam Johnson, executive director of transportation.

Wilcox said drivers were also getting accustomed to new schedules because bell schedules changed for an estimated 40 schools.

He said the district had enough people driving buses to make the routes Monday, but pick-up at each stop took longer than expected in some locations.

"We had some parents who called in and said the bus isn't here yet because they didn't have the bus app. So just little things like that during the first week of school," Wilcox said.

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District officials said there are 42.5 teacher positions that are vacant.

Wilcox said substitutes will be working those positions until they can be filled by qualified teachers.

New school boundary changes were in place for the first day of class, including three school pairings.

Wilcox said those communities have stepped up to embrace the change.

"The parent organizations have really worked hard, not only to go out and walk the community and encourage neighbors to come to school, but they've also been very intentional in setting up the PTA organizations," Wilcox said.

District officials have not completed an enrollment count but expect to have more than 147,000 students this year. Enrollment is likely to continue through the first few days of school.

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Officials focus on security upgrades at school where man exposed himself